HTC Q4 profits plummet, immediate outlook not rosy either

Once rubbing shoulders with Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market, Taiwanese manufacturer HTC is struggling just to stay in the game, with its earnings call for quarter four 2012 displaying some damning trends.

Having already sent out a gloomy message of what to expect in its financial results for Q4 in January, the company has confirmed that its revenue for the quarter was just $2.02 billion, down from $3.48 for the equivalent period in 2011.

But perhaps the worse part is that its posted profit for Q4 was just $33 million. In 2011, the equivalent figure for 2011 being $366 million. That's a drop of around 91 per cent.

HTC's immediate future doesn't look any rosier either, with the company outlook for the first quarter of 2013 being lower than the last, forecasting revenues between $1.69 to $2.02 billion. Its operating margin is also expected to dip, to between 0.5 to 1 per cent.

Naturally, the phenomenal rise of Samsung in the Android smartphone market has eaten heavily into HTC's share of the pie, but with these latest figures, it seems that the Taiwanese company needs to consolidate.

In its earnings call, it revealed that it would be looking more towards emerging markets in China and the budget end of the phone business. That's not to say that it will ditch smartphones entirely, with the HTC M7 expected to be announced on 19 February in London - with an Ultrapixel camera, Pocket-lint previously revealed.

Troubling times, mind.

Where do you think it went wrong for HTC? Let us know in the comments below...

Our senior ed of news and features has been a tech and games journalist for more than 27 years, and has been with Pocket-lint for over five. Rik has edited a number of videogame magazines in the past, was deputy editor of Home Cinema Choice, and his TV career included stints as co-presenter of Channel 4's Gamesmaster and Sky One’s Games World.